UK Book Club discussion

Please join the conversation about The Beekeeper of Aleppo here. Remember to indicate whether your post includes SPOILERS! Enjoy :)

Serendipity as I was already reading this! Great choice. Half way through at the moment

This book is a great choice. I have already read it and I really enjoyed reading the story.

I also have already read this book (loved it). I actually also went to see the stage play when it was playing in the UK and that was almost as good. Enjoy the book for those reading.

Looking forward to it...

I've just started reading this and I'm hooked. I think it is going to be one of those quick reads, though it's 300+ pages, because I can't but it down. I also think I'm about to learn a lot about human displacement, terror, the cruelty of humans, and the beauty of human nature. And bees.

I'm really rooting for that Bee.

Paul wrote: "I'm really rooting for that Bee."

Ha ha! Very good, Paul ;)

Have finished now. My first 5 star book for a while. Going to stay with me for some time I think. Lots to think about as well as feel emotionally …..

The author, Christy Lefteri, is the child of Cypriot refugees who sought and gained asylum in the UK. She went on to work as a volunteer at a UNICEF refugee centre in Athens, learning of the trauma of displacement, the need for safety, and the risk and stress of being vulnerable in strange environments.

The novel, 360 pages, swaps between periods, the escape from Aleppo, and gaining asylum in a safe country. It is well written, Lefteri uses a narrative device to move between periods seamlessly, maintaining the flow of the storyline. The two main characters, a married couple Nuri and his wife Afra are described in detail, along with their child.

Having read In Extremis by Lindsey Hilsum, the biography of Marie Colvin correspondent for the Daily Telegraph who covered the war in Syria and was killed in Homs by Assad’s forces, I had some knowledge of the horrors that humans are subjected to, the destruction that took place. The Beekeeper of Aleppo adds the perspective of those fleeing, the loss of life, the conditions and risks they deal with on a daily basis.

Nuri has grown up tending bees with his friend, building a business with many hundreds of hives. His friend has found safety in another country and is waiting for Nuri and his family to join him so they can work with bees. Lefteri creates tension well in the family’s flight to safety, bringing in an assortment of characters that either bring help or fear. It is here that you get a sense of what the refugees suffer before and during their search for a safe place to live. This isn’t something that you read about in the papers or see on the TV news reports. How quotidian horror becomes normal, how humans can be changed by their environment.

Nuri tells his wife about an incident he witnesses in Aleppo, the one that forces them to leave.
‘‘So, I came up behind two armed men and overheard them taking bets on something. They were planning to use something for target practice. I realised they were talking about an eight-year-old boy who was playing alone on the road’ . . . ‘I realised to late, I said. One of them had taken the bet and shot him in the head’ . . . ‘What did you do?’ ‘I couldn’t move’ . . . ‘It wasn’t a clean shot, and he didn’t die straight away.’
‘I cried into my palms. I pressed my palms against my eyes. I wished I could take it away, what I saw.’’ What would I do in that situation. How would I handle such atrocities?

It does not end there. How would I survive in a strange country, not being able to speak the language, with no friends around me, and facing a bureaucracy that did not want me there and would try anything to remove me. This is the second half of the story. The diaspora of multiple tongues trying desperately to assimilate in a foreign land desperate to be accepted, but also to do the right thing. Imagine tomorrow having to prove that I belong, that I am not a threat, not what they say I am. Who do I trust? Nuri finds solace in nature, a thread that leads his thoughts back to his homeland, but the trauma of his time and escape, and looking after Afra lies deep within him. Afra traumatised, is the mirror Nuri needs.
Christy Lefteri has created a powerfully important piece of literature. A story, that will sadly be repeated many times. The Beekeeper of Aleppo for me, adds the missing human dimension of those tv reports showing the terror of those fleeing harm.

I've just finished and have given it 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hope everyone else is enjoying it as much as I did!

I have yet to start it...

I’ve just started reading it today…!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

OK, finished the book last week, very very good book not quite a 5 stars, had me peaking emotionally to early in the book with the stories of Firas and Sami, but I wish Goodreads would allow 1/2 star increments so I could give it more than 4. Very well written and I really liked the way Christy switched between different timelines and locations. A very relevant subject matter to this day and definitely made me think deeply about the migrant experience and what it would take to make a person want to risk their families lives in a rubber duck and to be at the mercy of the worst of society, good choice for the BOTM and not one that was on my BTR list so thanks, looking forward to reading Songbirds soon too :-)

Finally, I'm making a start!....

I’m almost 70% in….cant decide how I feel about the book. I know for sure that I’m not enjoying the writing style. How it jumps about with no warning. I’m defo struggling with that.

I don't mind the time switches. I rather like the way the author uses the last word from the present section, as the first word of the past, at each switch.

Paul wrote: "The author, Christy Lefteri, is the child of Cypriot refugees who sought and gained asylum in the UK. She went on to work as a volunteer at a UNICEF refugee centre in Athens, learning of the trauma..."

I really enjoyed your comments, Paul. I think this novel really succeeds at humanising the ongoing refugee crisis. I was routing for the bee too - a symbol of hope!

Thank you Liz. I found it very uplifting. It is really clever writing with the bee. It appears infrequently yet inhabits a big space in the mind. Wonderful stuff. I think it will be one of my go-to comfort reads.

I’ve just finished reading this. Just 3 stars from me sadly…

Finally finished. I’m afraid I’m in the minority here…
There were some bits that I found lovely. Especially the ending! But overall I struggled quite a bit to stay interested. Yes, I agree with others very sad story. And yes, it did peak emotionally too early. I also didn’t enjoy the writing style, I know many books jump about to different places and times but this one didn’t let you know. I found that very irritating as it broke my concentration. Nevertheless, Im glad I finished it.